


We Only Need Each Other

by Lenasaurous



Series: High Fantasy AU [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Angst, But not that much, First Kiss, Fluff, Gotta say tho, High Fantasy AU, I'm so much happier with the name of this fic than the one of my other DR fic, M/M, There's a little bit of blood, There's references bigotry by the way, This is just really fluffy, aka homophobia, all that good stuff (although bigotry is never good), but it isn't major, just a plot device, thematically important, this is just gloriously pretentious sounding y'know?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-26 18:10:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13863126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lenasaurous/pseuds/Lenasaurous
Summary: Shuichi found himself longing to kiss away the joyful ears on the other’s cheeks, to embrace him lovingly, assuring him that he wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon.But he couldn’t. He wasn’t allowed to touch Kokichi like that. It was unnatural, it was wrong.(Trust me this thing is really fluffy, it just takes a little while)





	We Only Need Each Other

**Author's Note:**

> Between this and my other fics, can you tell that I'm really shitty at summaries and just take excerpts from the work itself?  
> This /is/ high fantasy btw (based almost entirely on D&D 5e because I'm a huge nerd and a noob), it just isn't all that important in this particular fic. This will be a part of a series where the AU is exploited a lot more though (because it's fun and if there are two tropes I'd sell my soul for they are Hanahaki AU's and High-Fantasy AU's) so hang about for that!

Waking up was painful. Shuichi’s abdomen burned like the fires of hell, only just bearable in his half-asleep state.

The ground was cold and hard, grass tickled at the exposed flesh of Shuichi’s torso and a cool breeze gently brushed against his sides. It was dark too; the sounds of owls and crickets rang through his pounding head. In the corner of his blurry vision, the soft glow of a small fire flickered peacefully, waves of heat mingling with the night air to form an overall rather unpleasant feeling of cold humidity.

Shuichi groaned and tried to move, gritting his teeth against the flashes of torrid pain striking across his belly with each movement, trying to prop himself up on his elbow and look at where he was, because this wasn’t where he remembered being last.

Last he could remember, he’d been in the midst of combat, fending off small a hoard of skeletons. Had he been hit? From the wound he could only assume that’s what happened, but where was he now?

Before he could come to any other conclusions though a sudden force barrelled into his side, effectively knocking his elbow out of place. He would have fallen to the floor had a pair of desperately tight arms not wrapped around his shoulders, holding him just above the ground.

He could hear sniffling, feel soft hair brushing against his face and fat tears falling warm onto his collarbone. Still partially unconscious, this all sort of confused Shuichi, until he heard it.

“You’re _alive_.”

The weak, distressed voice ripped Shuichi’s heart in two, sorrow flowing deep into the crevices of his soul. Hearing it so weak, so crushed and broken was heart shattering.

It was the voice of the person he considered his other half, the person he’d stood beside for as long as he cared to remember, the person who he knew in the presence of, he could call anywhere home.

“Y-yeah,” he assured, voice cracking with the pain, mouth dry with mucus, blood and stale saliva. “I’m just fine, Kokichi. You don’t need to… to worry anymore.”

“No, you’re not, stop speaking delusional nonsense, Shuichi! You almost died! I-I thought you were… that you might… you still could…”

Shuichi shushed and shook his head, wrapping his arms around the other in return, squeezing hard to confirm that, yes, he was there, and yes, he was alive, and he was going to stay that way.

Unfortunately, the pressure and contraction of his muscles had the deep cut screeching again. Shuichi hissed in pain and instinctually coiled forward.

Kokichi panicked and instantly let go, pushing Shuichi so he was laying flat on his back again, head resting on a folded cloak.

To Shuichi’s shock, Kokichi looked just like he felt.

His normally bouncy hair that usually somehow defied gravity was scraggly, strands pointing in random directions but still limp against his head, and his skin, naturally a pale alabaster seemed too ghostly, the faint pink that usually coloured his face sapped until he looked almost undead and waxy in the moonlight. Worst of all was the utter defeat in his eyes, no longer twinkling with the mischievous gleam befitting of an arcane trickster, but dull and worried, dark bags under his eyes standing stark against the white of his skin.

The sight pulled at Shuichi’s very humanity, knowing that this worry was for his sake.

“I’ll be fine,” he stated, trying to convince himself as much as he was Kokichi. “I’ve come back from worse, right?”

“But…” Kokichi began, eyes fearfully glued to the ripped-up shirt he’d tried to bind the slash with, now saturated with blood. “I can’t… I don’t know what to do. I can’t help you, I’m useless.”

Shuichi chuckled, baring through the pain. “If that’s not a lie, then I don’t know what is. You’re never useless”

“I don’t know the first thing about first aid, Shuichi.”

“ _You’re never useless_. I’ll…” he paused to take a deep, shuddering breath, “I’ll tell you what to do, I know you can do it. Grab my belt.”

Kokichi scrambled to follow Shuichi’s instructions, frantic in his urgency to _do_ something.

It took a while, but Kokichi managed to flawlessly follow all of Shuichi’s fuzzy directions, combining magical components he had no experience in handling to create a powerful healing salve. Each step of the way, Shuichi made sure to let Kokichi know how well he was doing, how proud he was, how he thought he’d make a better warlock than himself, making sure he knew that he was being useful. Kokichi just told him to shut up and tell him what to do next.

Soon enough, the torrid agony that tore through Shuichi’s side had been treated, the blissfully cool cream of the slave extinguished the heat, and his skin began to magically seal itself shut.

The utter relief that washed over Kokichi’s face as he watched the cut stitch back, Shuichi thought, would have easily been remedy enough. But he kept that thought to himself.

Shuichi found himself longing to kiss away the joyful ears on the other’s cheeks, to embrace him lovingly, assuring him that he wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. He wanted to hold him close through the rest of the night, making sure he got enough rest, carding is fingers through plum coloured hair until it lay as it normally did, no longer tangled and full of its usual life again.

But he couldn’t. He wasn’t allowed to touch Kokichi like that. It was unnatural, it was wrong. It would have ruined their bond, the one thing that he swore kept him from giving in to the hellish inferno bonding him to his patron.

So instead, he just smiled, trying to look glad for the relief, keeping his hands firmly fixed to his sides, his disgusting desires shoved away into the deepest, darkest corners of his mind. He watched as Kokichi cried out his worry, furiously wiping his tears away on the hem of his tunic, unable to do anything to give him the comfort he deserved, the comfort he so hopelessly wanted to provide.

Eventually Kokichi turned away, throwing more branches on the small fire, face illuminated by the flames, streaks of salty water shining against his cheeks.

Shuichi sighed and looked away, up into the blanket of stars above them. The waning moon shining in the sky, gracing the woodlands with her pale light. He gently ran his fingers over where the cut had been, now just a scarred patch of skin, another one to add to the collection.

He let his nostalgia run wild as his fingers absentmindedly traced all of the grooves in his skin, up his sides, across his ribs, following his collarbone, each and every one reminding him of a different experience he’d had with the shorter young man sat next silently next to him: adventures and mishaps, discovering priceless magical treasures and running away half naked from an angry family of owlbears.

None of the scars were nearly as large as the newest though. It was no wonder Kokichi had been so frightened; the blood still stuck to his torso was copious, Shuichi genuinely considered himself lucky to be alive. The slash must have cut through to his kidneys and intestines, damage irreparable by anything but magic, a kind of magic Kokichi had zero understanding of or ability to use. Shuichi knew he would have been a mess had the tables been turned. It was a blessing Shuichi woke up when he did, really.

He was still a little light headed from the blood loss, but no where near falling back into unconsciousness, thank the gods.

Shuichi let his hand fall back to his side, and almost immediately as he did, Kokichi’s had covered it, clutching to it like a life line.

“I don’t know what I would have done if…” He rushed to spill out his words, as if worried he wouldn’t be able to say it if he was too slow. “If you had… if I had lost you…” he petered out, despair tainting his voice. “I don’t know how I could have lived knowing that… if I wasn’t able to… If I’d left it too late...”

Gently squeezing the others fingers in return, Shuichi interrupted him. “You don’t need to say anything if it hurts.”

“No, _I do_ ,” Kokichi insisted, refusing to meet Shuichi’s gaze, staring resolutely into the fire. “You almost… you almost _died_ today. There’s so much I need to tell you, and I almost lost that chance forever. I’ve realised that… that none of what’s stopping me from telling you would matter if you were dead. I don’t want to think about that as a possibility, I want to think that I might have another century at least to tell you, but with our lifestyles, that possibility isn’t necessarily going to happen…” He gulped nervously, gaze dropping to his lap, his free hand pulling up clumps of grass.

Shuichi didn’t know how to respond, he didn’t know if there was anything he could say or do. So, he lay still on the ground, eyes locked on Kokichi’s face, trying to figure whether he was blushing or if it was the light of the fire.

“I just need to tell you now, so I don’t regret it later. So that if either of us die, no matter if it’s tomorrow, or the day after, or a hundred years from now, that at least I know I was honest about _this_ with both you and myself, even if I’m not about anything else.”

Suddenly, he snapped his gaze to meet Shuichi’s head on, a fearful determination etched into his expression. “B-because, Shuichi I… I just…” He made a strangled whine, eyes momentarily flicking to the large brown scar carved though Shuichi’s stomach. “I love you, more than anything else in the world.”

Shuichi couldn’t believe his ears, his eyes, his anything. He suddenly became convinced that he was in some sort of delirious, brink of death dream, imagining something he wished Kokichi would say, something he’d been dreaming of hearing the other say for years.

But then he kept rambling.

“M-more than a friend. More than a brother. I’ve been madly in love with you since we were _kids_ , and it’s been driving me insane. I know it’s meant to be wrong, heathenistic, unnatural, but I also can’t understand how what I feel for you could be anything other than good and pure.”

The more Kokichi spoke, the more Shuichi simultaneously _couldn’t_ believe this was real and _wanted_ to believe it was.

“So, i-if you… even if you don’t feel the same way, which I’m sure you don’t, I just don’t want to keep this from you anymore. I just hope that you can understand that everything I feel for you is… is real and… and _honest_.” He was starting to tear up, voice coming out cracked and strained. “And I just… I really, _really_ hope that… that you won’t… that you won’t abandon me because of it, because I, I can’t… I can’t imagine m-my life with... without you in it.”

In a rush of panicked emotion, Shuichi scrambled up from the ground and threw his arms around the crying boy, holding him close to his chest, nuzzling Kokichi’s hair. He shushed him frantically, running his hand up and down his back.

“No, no. Hey, shush, I’d never do _that_. I’ll never leave you, ever. Nothing could ever make me abandon you, okay.” He pulled away and held Kokichi’s tearstained face in his hands, forcing him to look directly at him. “Do you understand? There is no force in existence that could ever, _ever_ stop me from needing you by my side, okay?”

Kokichi nodded, hiccoughing, tears still freely running down his pale face, mingling with the mucus streaming down from his nose. He shamefully wiped at them, smearing it across his upper lip and cheeks. Shuichi reached for the cloak he’d been using as a pillow and helped to wipe it all away, smiling softly at the mess the other had become.

When Kokichi had stopped crying, sniffling now and then, eyes red and puffy, Shuichi took Kokichi’s hand back into his own, rubbing soft circles into his palm with his thumb.

Shuichi was still finding it difficult to actually comprehend what the other had said.

Kokichi _loved_ him.

He wanted _everything_ Shuichi wanted.

He didn’t think a love like that was wrong, he thought it was something to be cherished, something he needed to be honest about; and Kokichi didn’t like being honest about anything.

It made Shuichi’s heart lurch, it filled him with an indescribable warmth, a glow of joy, hope and _love_.

It was a feeling he needed to share then and there, before he lost his chance, because he knew that Kokichi was right. There was no guarantee that they had a lifetime ahead of them, so he needed to be brave in the present. Kokichi had thrown himself out on a tightrope, put his heart directly into Shuichi’s hands, shown him just how much trust and affection he truly felt for him, and Shuichi had to show him exactly how much that meant to him.

Without any hesitation, Shuichi raised his free hand to cup Kokichi’s cheek in his palm and leant forward. Kokichi jolted, not expecting the contact and stared up into Shuichi’s affectionate gaze with confusion and apprehension.

Then, knowing that it would be the only thing that had ever mattered in his life until that moment, Shuichi kissed him.

Kokichi’s lips were chapped and raw, Shuichi could taste the faint iron of blood from where he’d been worrying his lip, biting at the skin. Despite this though, it was more than Shuichi could have ever hoped it would be, because it was _Kokichi_ , and he was real and solid under his hands. He wasn’t a fantasy, he wasn’t just another of Shuichi’s daydreams, his childish longings for something he had been convinced was forever out of his reach. Because now it was in his reach, it was in his grasp, and when Kokichi got over the shock, realising just like Shuichi that this was reality, and kissed him back, Shuichi knew that it was something that he would never let go of.

After a few seconds they withdrew, surfacing for air, staring at each other with a mutual awe and adoration, hardly believing what had just happened.

Shuichi broke into a broad grin as he watched Kokichi’s face quickly go through multiple shades of red, each one darker than the last. He started to laugh, euphoric love bubbling through uncontrollably.

Kokichi, for his part, looked rather indignant, face as red as a tomato, not knowing whether he’d just hallucinated what happened and certainly not understanding why Shuichi was _laughing_ at him. This, of course, just caused Shuichi to laugh harder.

Once he managed to push down the giggles, he rested both of his hands on Kokichi’s shoulders, looking him dead in the eye as he admitted, “Kokichi, I love you too."

Disbelieving comprehension dawned over Kokichi, his eyes blowing wide and mouth hanging ajar.

“R-really?”

“Really.”

“Y-you’re not… you’re not lying to make me feel better.”

“ _Of course_ not. Why would I do _that_?”

Kokichi blinked blankly. “I don’t know.”

Shuichi chuckled fondly. “Really, I love you. I mean it, I’ve never meant anything more. I want to hold you close through the night, to wake up to see you lying next to me in the morning, and not in the bed across from me, _next_ to me, in my arms. I want to feel your breath against my neck, to be roused from sleep by your cute little snores and your hair tickling my nose.

“I want you to look at me and know that _I’m_ the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, that _I’m_ the person who makes you feel whole, the person who you can always depend on for anything, at any time, knowing that you’ll be by their side as long as they’ll have you, because that’s what I feel every single time I look at you. And it hurts so much when I see you, because I know that I can’t show you how much I need you, how much I adore and love you, to think that doing so would drive you away when all I want is to make you happy. But to know you feel the same way… I don’t think anyone in history could ever achieve the same amount of happiness as I’m feeling right now.”

“Well…” Kokichi said, overwhelmed by Shuichi’s speech. “I think that maybe… I might be able to rival you.” He smiled, morosely looking down at his hands. “I was… I was so sure you’d want nothing to do with me… It’s not right for…”

“ _No_ ,” Shuichi stopped him, clamping his hand over Kokichi’s mouth. “If this is wrong, then being right isn’t worth it. If this is going to send me to hell, I don’t want to know what sort of torture heaven is. To be able to be with you for a finite time is more than worth an eternity of torture.”

Kokichi nodded, gently pulling Shuichi’s hand away from his mouth. “If that’s the case then, um… would you kiss me again?”

Not needing to be asked twice, Shuichi grasped Kokichi’s face in his hands and kissed him again, and again, and again, desperate to make the moment last forever.

The seconds rolled into minutes, both boys clutching at each other, determined to show just how much they loved one another, starting in their new lives as one, only just beginning to make up for the lost time, the years of pining, of fearful longing and lonely sorrow with a future of warm glee and blissful ecstasy.

When morning came they had to return home, to a society where no one would be able to understand how truly beautiful what they had was, blinded by social convention much as Shuichi and Kokichi had been before.

Neither of them cared about that though. They may not have been able to shout their love from the rooftops, spreading their happiness to the people around them, but they didn’t really need to. Because as long as _they_ knew, as long as they had each other, just like they always had, then none of that mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> Ouma's a tad out of character here, but I hope you guys can understand why. He wont be in the future (hopefully)  
> So I decided to write this because the longfic I'm writing now (another SaiOuma) is SUPER slow burn and I just needed some quick fluffy payoff and this happened. Unfortunately in using my D&D guides to help me write this I may have inadvertently created a whole universe where everyone in Danganronpa (three main games) has a place in this high fantasy world and now I'm gonna make a bunch of one shots based on it. What can ya do ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> FYI, just so you know, in this Ouma's meant to be a Arcane Trickster (Rogue) and Saihara's a warlock. I did mention that in there, but just clarifying here. Their races I'll save for the next fic, because not everyone is gonna be human (so I can keep the weird ass hair and eye colours from canon)  
> So this is gonna become that little series I will return to to put out ficlets when I'm a little stumped on my main fic which I can't share with you guys until it's finished and it's shaping up to be more than 100k and I've only written 20k so far so... I found this fic super fun and easy to just /write/ so I won't leave this alone for too long hopefully.  
> I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed staying up until half three in the morning writing it (which is a lot, surprisingly) and stay posted for more in this series. And leave suggestions if there are any points in these guys' history you want to know more about!


End file.
